


Mr. Monk and the Siblings of the Sun

by The_Platelet_Queen



Category: Monk (TV)
Genre: (sorry Trudy, Along with medium to mild cursing, And hopefully not complete crap since it’s my first attempt of writing anything Monk, And yes he and Natalie are together as a couple, Angst, Canon Divergent, F/M, I’m not sure how angsty because I’ve rarely written sad fic but, Like three or four times maybe, Medium to mild maybe?, Set in a world where Adrian finally moved on from Trudy, This is short sweet and painful, aka season 6 episode 11 Mr. Monk joins a cult, but you’d want him to be happy right??), more dramatic version of the scene where he’s snatched by the captain and locked in an empty room, sue me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:55:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27336028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Platelet_Queen/pseuds/The_Platelet_Queen
Summary: A short scene rewrite of a Monk episode (S6, ep11) I just watched the other day. Taking in account certain circumstances I’ve added, of course. Natalie confronts Monk while he’s brainwashed by the Siblings of the Sun.
Relationships: Adrian Monk/Natalie Teeger
Kudos: 3





	Mr. Monk and the Siblings of the Sun

“I-I don’t even recognize you,” she whispered, tears filling her wide green eyes.

“You mean you don’t know who I really am,” he countered.

She swallowed a sob. “Adrian, you don’t really mean that... right?”

“Natalie, I do. I do mean it.”

Sitting down on the floor across from him, tears escaped, rolling down her cheeks. “Please,” she begged him, “come back to me.”

He shook his head. “I’m happy now. I thought you wanted me to be happy.”

“Not like this!” she choked out. Letting despair overwhelm her, she began to sob. “Not like this,” she murmured, although it was incomprehensible through her crying.

He watched her as she hugged herself and wept, her eyes becoming red rimmed, her face splotchy. He watched as she ran out of tears, too dehydrated to muster another drop. “Natalie, you could come with me,” he finally suggested. “We could be happy together.”

“You know I can’t.” Her voice came out hoarse. “I have Julie, and I love her more than anything. I’m not going to just abandon her.”

He gave a half shrug. “I tried to be reasonable.”

She massaged her temples; the dehydration was setting in. Combined with irritation, rage slowly bubbled up inside of her. How dare he make her choose? How dare he play with her heart like that? Slowly, she rose from her seat on the floor. “I can’t even stand to look at you.” She shook her head. “I can’t.”

His face lit up like a Christmas tree. “So you’ll let me leave?”

Opening the door, she scowled. “No, you son of a bitch. I’m going to ask the captain if I can keep you here longer. You’re not going back, Adrian. Over my dead body.”

“I’m sure that can be arranged!” he yelled as she slammed the door behind her.

////////////////////////////////////////////

She collapsed onto her couch beside Dr. Kroger. “Randy, get me a glass of water.”

“Uh, I’m reading.” Randy waved a magazine at Natalie.

“Randy,” Stottlemeyer warned.

Randy waved the magazine more emphatically. “I’m busy.”

“Randy!” Stottlemeyer boomed. “Get Natalie a glass of water.

Randy scowled. “Do you want ice with that?” he asked, setting the magazine on the table. “Vanity Fair will be here when I get back,” he reassured them, as if stopping was his idea.

“Yeah, I’ll take ice.”

As Randy left, Stottlemeyer leaned over the top of the couch. “I take it it didn’t go well?”

She nodded, lips set in a straight line. Once it became apparent she wasn’t offering any details of her attempt, he stood up straight. “I’ll go talk to him.”

“Could you remove your watch?” Dr. Kroger asked. “We want to keep him disoriented, not alert him of the amount of time he’s been here.”

“Sure thing.” Stottlemeyer removed it, set it on the coffee table, and entered Monk’s makeshift room.

“Natalie, what happened?” Dr. Kroger asked, setting his reading glasses on the table.

“Here’s your water,” Randy interrupted, handing her a glass.

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

She sipped the water slowly, letting the cool water moisten her throat. The ice cold drink soothed her, so she wasn’t completely miserable. At least she was hydrated. While she drank, Randy went back to his magazine, and Dr. Kroger awaited her answer. “Uh, we ended up arguing,” she replied softly. “He wants to leave really badly.”

“Of course he does. The Siblings of the Sun brainwashed him into thinking that being on their ranch is the only way he’ll obtain true happiness.” He rested a hand on hers. “Adrian cares about you. He’s not himself.”

She laughed sharply. “He seems to think I don’t know him anymore and he hasn’t changed at all. Of course, it’s my fault.”

Randy glanced up from his magazine, watching the drama unfold. “Natalie, you can’t take it personally. His mind has been programmed to erase feelings for all people besides those in the cult,” Dr. Kroger insisted. “You can’t listen to anything he says.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “It could be worse: Julie could be here.”

Right on cue, the front door swung open. “There was a toothpaste emergency and grandma and grandpa had to leave,” Julie announced from the foyer, slipping off her shoes.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Natalie muttered.

“Mom, why are Mr. Disher and Dr. Kroger here?”

“Honey, it’s a long story.”

“Is something wrong with Mr. Monk?”

“Son of a bitch,” Stottlemeyer cursed, walking into the living room. “He wouldn’t even...” he trailed off when he saw Julie. “Uh, Julie. I thought you were at your grandparents.”

“Toothpaste emergency.” She crossed her arms. “What’s wrong with Mr. Monk?”

“Honey, why don’t we sit down at the table,” Natalie suggested.

“Why’re you acting so weird? Oh my god, is he dying?”

“Julie, honey. Table, now.”

With an eye roll, she followed her mother over to their dining room table. “Can I get you anything to drink? A snack?”

“Mom!” Julie exclaimed exasperatedly. “Just tell me.”

Natalie sighed. “Mr. Monk was working on a case and he had to go undercover. And, well, he’s not himself anymore.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“He infiltrated a cult, and he got brainwashed.” She put her head in her hands. “We’re trying to get him back to normal.”

“Can I see?”

“Absolutely not!” She let her arms rest on the table. “You can see him once he’s normal again.”

Julie shook her head, slight smile on her face. “He’ll never be normal.”

Natalie frowned. “That wasn’t very nice.”

“Sorry.”

“You can see him once he’s himself again.”

“Fine.”

Painting a smile on her face and completely changing her demeanor, she asked, “Could you go upstairs and unpack? I’ll make you a snack when you’re done.” She hoped she looked friendly and stress-free.

Julie eyed her warily. “Yeah, okay.” She grabbed her duffel bag off the floor and trudged upstairs.

Natalie watched as her daughter left, smile fading from her face. Getting up wasted energy she didn’t have so she stayed seated at the table, staring at the staircase. A dull pain spread across her forehead and she suppressed a groan. Nothing seemed to be going her way today. “Natalie,” Dr. Kroger said from the living room. “Unclench your jaw. You’ll feel better.”

Too tired to protest or question it, she relaxed her jaw. It alleviated most of the ache. “Thank you.”

“I’ll talk to him now.” As he stood up, his cellphone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, holding the device to his ear. “Hello?”

Natalie worried her lower lip. Whoever was on the other line seemed to have bad news according to his grim expression. “I understand. I’ll be right there.”

With those four words, her heart sank. He wouldn’t be able to fix Monk, at least not today. “Family emergency,” he explained. “Natalie, I can come back tomorrow morning at the earliest. Is that okay?”

She forced a smile across her face. There wasn’t much of a choice but to agree. “Sure, sounds great,” she replied in her most chipper tone.

Dr. Kroger grabbed his papers and headed for the door. “Tomorrow,” he repeated, as if she needed a reminder.

“Yep.” As the door closed behind him, she sank down in her chair. “God, tomorrow.”

She wasn’t sure she could cope with it for so long. Not to mention she had to take care of him until the morning. He wouldn’t eat and seeing him only reminded her of what she may have lost. And Julie was home. Yet another responsibility on her long list. Stottlemeyer picked up his wristwatch from the coffee table. Squinting at it, he read the time. Natalie glanced at the clock on the oven. 6:49. “Natalie-” he started.

His tone told her everything. “Captain, I’ll be fine,” she reassured him. “Go.”

Randy rose from the armchair. “You’ll be okay if I leave too?”

“Yes,” she lied. “Perfectly fine.”

Stottlemeyer eyed her, searching her face for a tell. “Are you sure you’ll be fine on your own?”

She managed to keep a convincing smile on her face long enough to fool him. “Of course. It’s no big deal.”

“Okay, we’ll see you in the morning. Call if you need anything, anything at all,” he said, still seeming unsure of his decision to leave.

“I will.”

_If he feels that way_ , she thought, _why won’t he stay with me, distract me?_ She needed company more than ever. Begging with her eyes, she pleaded him to stay, keeping her fake smile stretched across her face. Either he didn’t notice or was too tired to care. He grabbed his case files and headed out the door. Saying a quick “goodbye”, he and Randy disappeared within a minute. She couldn’t help but ruminate on how briskly they had left, as if they couldn’t bear to stay in her house another second. If given the chance to leave, she supposed she’d take it too. She couldn’t handle spending any more time in her house. Not without a breakdown. However, she didn’t have much of a choice. Adrian was in her spare bedroom. Not the captain’s, not Randy’s, not Dr. Kroger’s. Hers.

Padding across the dining room floor, she carefully cracked open the door. Adrian sat exactly where she had left him. Well, almost. He lay on the mattress, fixated on the ceiling. “Father, please protect me. Father, please correct me. Father, please mend me,” he chanted.

Natalie’s heart leapt into her throat. Her headache returned, although this time it wasn’t from dehydration. Tears pricked her eyes. Watching him incant his cult song, he didn’t even slightly resemble the man she once knew. The man she loved. His vacant yet intense gaze never wavered, his expression never changed, as he repeated the chant over and over. This wasn’t famous detective Adrian Monk. The man in that room was barely even a person. His mind had been erased and replaced with whatever bullshit the Siblings of the Sun had brainwashed him with. A tear rolled down her cheek and she gently closed the door. She couldn’t watch anymore. It was too painful.

Pressing her back to the wall, she slid down until she was sitting. She sobbed softly into her hands. The last thing she wanted was for Julie to hear her. A gaping void had developed in her chest when Monk had been spotted at the airport selling flowers. It had been slowly gnawing at her sanity ever since. Too tired to fight it any longer, she surrendered, letting it consume her.

She allowed herself to be upset, to be weak, to mourn the man she loved. Although it felt dramatic since Dr. Kroger hadn’t even tried to reason with him, Adrian seemed dead. The Adrian she knew was gone and didn’t want to resurface. What he said earlier echoed through her head: “I’m happy now. I thought you wanted me to be happy”. Nausea twisted her stomach. He was happy she had no place in his life. He was fine, absolutely fine, without her. She wished she could say the same about him.

**Author's Note:**

> I actually wrote this about half a year ago, but finally got around to posting it. I hope you guys enjoyed :)


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